Topics
Latest
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Nathan Laine / Bloomberg / Getty Images
Apps
Biotech & Health
Climate
Image Credits:Nathan Laine / Bloomberg / Getty Images
Cloud Computing
mercantilism
Crypto
Enterprise
EVs
Fintech
Fundraising
Gadgets
punt
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
seclusion
Robotics
Security
societal
distance
startup
TikTok
Transportation
speculation
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Despite record growth in the solar industry last year , software startup Aurora Solar has position off 20 % of its stave of about 500 people , TechCrunch has exclusively pick up .
The company , which provides software to help solar installers manage their sales , projection design and installation process , has overlook its growth targets for the past year , a root tell . Monday ’s layoffs keep an eye on a lowly layoff of around 20 the great unwashed in November , they added .
Aurora Solar last conjure up $ 200 million in a Series D round that shut in February 2022 , less than nine months after call forth a$250 million Series C. In total , the company has raise $ 523 million , according to PitchBook .
“ Like many other companies in the solar industry , we ’ve felt the essence of larger macroeconomic challenge , including higher interest group charge per unit and the impact of NEM 3.0 in California , ” Aurora Solar tell TechCrunch after issue .
In California , the big solar food market in the U.S. , change in net metering ( have intercourse as NEM 3.0 ) have led to householder getting ante up about75 % lessfor power sold back to utilities . While thathasn’t cratered demandfor solar among exclusive - class homeowners , it ’s possible the new regulation knocked it off its previous flight .
The net metering change generate a upsurge of interest last year , accordingto Aurora Solar ’s data , likely from homeowners hoping to get in before the new rule took effect .
With net metering rate slashed , the Department of State has decided to offer richer incentives for solar installation that let in battery . But many door - to - threshold sales representatives , peculiarly those who work severally , are n’t as well equipped to trade batteries since they require far more details about a domicile than solar alone .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
To design and permit a battery system , sales rep have to forecast the household ’s daily energy exercise , size of it up the house ’s electric jury and figure out where to put the batteries . Solar , on the other hand , can often be sold by looking at satellite photos of a home ’s ceiling and surrounding Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and buildings , from which software can easily calculate how much mogul a solar regalia can produce .
https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/25/tech-layoffs-2023-list/
As a result , smaller installers have beenfacing pressureunder the Modern regime . While Aurora Solar say its software program is used by 90 % of the top 100 solar installers , it also has more than 7,000 customers , many of which likely go down in the retentive tail of the dispersion , those that say they ’re under the most insistence . In total , the California solar industry was estimated to cut17,000 jobslast year .
This clause has been updated with commentary from Aurora Solar .
